Time saved with all-in-one system helps double patient numbers

At a glance 

Natasha Jovic is a Private Medical Secretary to three consultants across hepatology and gastroenterology. Her consultants work at OneWelbeck, The London Digestive Centre, The Liver Physicians, and The Princess Grace Hospital.

Natasha's role is to ensure her consultants have full clinics, and patients have a smooth care journey. They have been using Semble for around a year.

The challenge: Hours wasted completing admin across multiple systems

Working with three consultants means Natasha must remain organised. Her days normally begin with checking lab results, replying to emails, reviewing and sending letters, actioning tasks and completing hospital booking forms.

As a medical secretary, Natasha’s primary focus is how many patients are attending appointments, whether for the first time or for follow-up appointments. The latter, Natasha says, are crucial for the continuity of care.

“Follow-ups are really important for the patient and the doctors. Often when the patient has a blood test or scan, they might need further investigation. This is usually done at a follow-up appointment. Biopsies, gastroscopy, colonoscopy – these things are usually discussed at the next consultation.”

"We mostly used OneDrive and spreadsheets for tasks, follow-ups, lab results. It was lots of copying and pasting, lots of back and forth between systems. We were doubling up on work.”

Natasha Jovic, Private Medical Secretary

But Natasha and her consultants were concerned that the hours wasted on admin, created from using multiple systems for all her work, was preventing them from fulfilling their patient potential.

Before Semble, many of Natasha’s processes were spread across different, unsecure systems. “We mostly used OneDrive, Word and spreadsheets for tasks, follow-ups, lab results and other important information, which was a lot of copying and pasting, going back and forth between different systems. It was risky, and we were often doubling up on work.”

The solution: An all-in-one system that reduces admin and increases patient numbers

All those aspects of Natasha’s job that were spread across different platforms – tasks, letters, pathology, bookings – can now be completed in one place on Semble’s cloud-based system. No more spreadsheets, and OneDrive is a thing of the past.

“It used to take me 20 minutes to go from one thing to another, making sure I had everything copied in. Now it takes me a minute or two. I’m saving up to four hours a week with Semble. Everything I need is in one place and I know what needs to be done and when, without having to go to three locations for that one thing. It’s great.”

Having all her work in one place has eliminated the friction from Natasha’s workflows, which means she can focus less on frustrating, time-consuming admin and more on building a relationship with patients and getting them booked into the clinics. Which, since using Semble, have grown exponentially across all three clinicians.

"My clinicians have been able to double the amount of patients they’re seeing. They were getting around 50% of new referrals booked in last year; now it’s 90%.”

- Natasha Jovic

"Semble was the perfect answer to our problems. It’s made life easier and saved us all time, which means my clinicians have been able to double the amount of patients they’re seeing. They were getting around 50% of new referrals booked in last year, whereas now it’s at 90%.”

These changes have been monumental to patient satisfaction – there has even been comments of commendation to Natasha’s consultants about how efficient they are at following up. “One gentleman told us in his 16 years seeing doctors in the UK, he’s never received a reminder for a follow-up appointment – he was really impressed. They love it. Everyone’s been much happier in the last 12 months. I thank Semble for that – it’s fantastic.”

It's also positively impacted Natasha’s performance in her role. With Semble, it’s far easier to keep track of who’s due for what. She can also use tasks to set booking reminders for those all-important follow-up appointments. As a result, the clinics are full every week. “Definitely, performance has gone up,” Natasha adds. “70% if not more since we started using Semble.”

“It’s been a wonderful 12 months.”

To find out more about how Semble can improve your patient communications, take a look at our dedicated Patient Engagement page.